World Youth Day (WYD) is a meeting of young people from all over the world with the Pope. It was instituted by St. John Paul II, the Pope of the young people; although he said that "it is the young people themselves who invented WYD".
Here you can relive the best moments of the WYD, pray with their messages and prepare for the next ones.
It was in the Holy Year of 1975, when Paul VI called the Catholic youth to Rome after the International March of Christian Reconciliation held between Assisi and Rome.
The convocation was repeated in 1984 by John Paul II, who once again appealed to the youth of Christendom. On that occasion, 300,000 young people gathered in Rome. The good response to this call encouraged John Paul II, the "Pope of the young", to institute World Youth Day. On Palm Sunday 1985, the Pope officially announced the institution of World Youth Day. Since then, and thanks to the impulse of John Paul II, WYD has been celebrated in all dioceses every Palm Sunday. The World Youth Day as a massive event was launched during the WYD in Buenos Aires (1987). Since then, apart from the celebrations in each diocese, every two or three years a meeting is held in which the Pope meets with young people from all over the world. In a way, it can be said that each WYD is clear proof of the universality of the Church.
If you have the opportunity to attend one, don't hesitate, it's worth it!
